"It was only about a turn ago, A'rd's Trelerth Searched me. And I'm to go to Seasparkul Weyr. Kalkin's blue Sixth has flown white Creameth and there are some eggs. Probably not a gold, I hear, but then again, what would I want with a gold?" He chuckles, and you laugh.
"And you are a crafter?"
"Well, I'm a journeyman smithcrafter. I tinker and do work with metals in Alabaster's mines. I've even gone to Dawnlight Hold where they have other metalworkers. But theirs are mostly decorational, my work is strictly functional. I'm studying under Kalkin and master Smith Doyle."
"It is rare that a crafter gets Searched," you point out.
"But I'm common enough at Alabaster." Vaiax pauses, and splashes about a little in the pool. "Don't be startled," the young man says, as he climbs out from the bathing area. You turn away, for politeness sake, but then as he reaches for a towel you must help him. He doesn't seem to have the reach that an adult should--
You cannot help but gasp. He has no legs! Well, he has small nubs of them, but they look as if...
"I was born this way," he says, "they do not hurt, and no, I do not have any trouble getting around. Alabaster is very creative that way." He smiles and you wonder what else he's going to surprise you with.
Other than the fact that he's been searched. A boy with no legs, riding a dragon? The idea seems quite preposterous!
But when Vaiax is finished drying himself off, you wonder where he's got to. You didn't even hear him moving from the water to the dressing room beyond. These bizarre places below the Alabaster Weyrhold are always surprising you, and this time it is the person you're interviewing who is the most amazing.
He comes out and ...
Startled again, you realize that he's eye level with you again! His very short pale blond hair couldn't have taken long to dry, it's nearly cut to his skin. He has a large head, you notice, perhaps proportionately he's lost a lot of leg but gained something else?
His slate colored eyes look you over, daring you to challenge him. His skin is pale, you saw that when he came out from the pool. But he is not entirely unattractive. Your eyes are drawn down, he wears a tunic of pale green-white, and leggings...
"But how? What?" You stammer, and he seems at ease with this. It probably happens to him all the time, and he is doubtless quite tired of it.
"See?" He lifts open the side of the pantleg, and you can tell that it opens along the side, rather than having to step into them. He simply wraps them around. But under the pant leg, is what he wants to show you!
He steps forward, with a small motion from his stubby limb. Then, the leg apparatus below it, a structure of thin metal and leather and wood, clicks into place below it. He shifts his weight and the other leg comes forward. His stomach and back are quite strong, you realize, as he has had to balance on these legs and keep from falling. You notice no cane or crutch in the area.
"That's amazing," you whisper.
"Aren't they? Kalkin and I worked on these, when I was about 14 turns old. I'm 19 now. He and I are working on other things like these. For vehicles and such. I don't think I will have any trouble making a harness for a dragon, which would be far easier to manipulate than these things." He indicates the legs, and you shake your head.
"That's right, if you can strap yourself in, you don't even need legs. I know that many dragonriders have been threadscored on their legs because they're harder to move. You might come out of a thread fall without any scarring!"
He smiles at you. "You're getting it. I'm actually quite agile without them too, but I prefer to be at head level with everyone. Not at a child's height." He seemed to have aimed that statement at the young drudge who has come to replenish the soaps and towels in the bathing rooms. He sticks his tongue out at Vaiax and continues working. He has to reach high, and Vaiax helps the boy out.
"I admit," you tell him, "I thought that when you came out of there, you'd make nothing like a candidate or a rider. But I'm convinced. You might just impress a good fighting dragon."
"I'd settle for a good flying dragon," Vaiax admits. "I've been told that I will be able to remain in the smithcraft if I do Impress, given time enough. I won't be happy just sitting on the sidelines and being catered to, though. I need to work. Especially with my hands. Perhaps if I do impress, I can convince other weyrs that people born like me -- few though there are -- may still be riders if they are trained right."
You thank him and walk down the hall beside him, heading to the candidate's lounge.
When he was seen putting them on in the Candidate's weyrs, the first reaction of course was one of shock.
"Tha's why ye walk funny," said the lower caverns inhabitant. Vaiax said a total of nothing to him as he finished the job of getting into the strange device which wrapped around his waist and ended in two 'legs'.
"The hatching is starting," someone said from outside, excited. "Come on, Vaiax! It's starting!"
Vaiax got moving, and dutifully put on the long uncomfortably warm white robe that all candidates were made to wear, before entering the sands.
He was the only one on the sands who didn't shift uncomfortably because the sands were so hot below his feet. He couldn't feel that heat. And he was quite glad for it!
The clutch was small, but then again, what could one expect from a pairing of such exotic dragons? Vaiax knew where Sixth was from, a time long past when dragon kind wasn't even a third the size that it was today!
The first egg hatched blue, and while this might normally be considered a hindrance traditionally, no one really expected these eggs to be much more than blue or green. Certainly the people in the stands betting felt that way. It was a large blue, Vaiax noticed. Very large.
Next two eggs hatched, one was white! Everyone looked at it, the tiny little white dragon landing near a girl's feet. The brown who marched up to Vaiax!
I am going to find some food! I think it is this way! My name is Volth, V'ax, come feed me!
"..Wait for me, Volth!" V'ax cried out, suddenly realizing that his expectations for a green or blue, or even a little white, had been exchanged for the glory of a brown! A brown dragon!
As he walked behind the dragon, he said, "you know that I do not have--"
Legs, I know. But I have four. That makes more for you. I will use them if you like. But I am too small to carry you right now... Maybe I will get big enough if I eat!
V'ax laughed, and helped the dragon feed on the large chunks of meat handed out just outside the hatching sands. "I think you will, but Volth, I hope you don't get TOO big!"
